New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: President Ram Nath Kovind Saturday presented the Padma awards to 54 noted personalities, including three Odias. Among them are — Devarapalli Prakash Rao, Kalama Pujari and Daitari Naik.
Devarapalli Prakash Rao, popularly known as D Prakash Rao, who is a tea seller by profession, was conferred with the fourth highest civilian award for his social work and providing free education to slum kids. He runs a school for slum children in Cuttack.
Similarly, Daitari Naik from Keonjhar district was conferred with Padma Shri award in recognition of his contribution to the nation in the field of social work. Besides, Kalama Pujari received the award for her excellent contribution in agriculture.
Worth mentioning, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s sister Gita Mehta Mehta was selected for the prestigious civilian honour for her contribution in ‘Literature and Education’ as an NRI. However, she declined to accept the award saying that ‘the timing of the award’ months before the general elections may be ‘misconstrued’.
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112 personalities were announced for this year’s Padma awards on the eve of Republic Day and 47 dignitaries were conferred the awards on March 11.
The remaining awards were presented on Saturday in the Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other cabinet ministers including Harsh Vardhan, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Vijay Goel.
The list of awardees included folk singer Teejan Bai, Larsen and Toubro Chairman Anil Kumar Naik, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Darshan Lal Jain, MDH Founder CEO Mahashay Dharam Pal Gulati, noted tabla player Swapan Chaudhuri, former Editor of RSS mouthpiece “Panchjanya” Devendra Swarup and Ladakh surgeon Tsering Norboo, among others.
Other significant awardees included photographer Anup Shah, tea seller Devarapalli Prakash Rao, social worker Droupadi Ghimiray, Dogri poet Narsingh Dev Jamwal, folk writer Joraversinh Danubhai Jadav and organic farmer Kanwal Singh Chauhan.
About 50,000 nominations were submitted for the awards this year, which saw a steep rise from 2,200 nominations in 2014.
PNN